


Hope is the thing that shines in dark places

by thedarkpoet



Category: RWBY
Genre: Outer Space, Stargazing, fairgameweekend2020, generation ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26806588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedarkpoet/pseuds/thedarkpoet
Summary: Qrow Branwen, resident of the generation ship Remnant, contemplates the stars.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	Hope is the thing that shines in dark places

**Author's Note:**

> Wow that's a pretty rough summary but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

# Oct 3 - Scars/Starlight  
  
Qrow Branwen hates going amidships, where gravity is only what you make of it and you can no longer see the stars.  
  
He's used to the Remnant's outer rings, which spin ponderously around the vast ship's central column and are studded with portholes that show the vast expanse of space that presses against their thin walls. But the most distant rings have grown dangerous lately, too dangerous for even Qrow to inhabit. Since the loss of his team, Qrow's world has contracted in and in, away from any hint of starlight.  
  
Sometimes, when he is feeling philosophical, he will ponder whether the distant ancestors who set them on this path understood the stars as he does. He knows the sky would have looked different there, on the far-off planet where the Remnant began her journey. But still he wonders if those earthbound humans saw the stars not just as cold and distant sentinels but as possible homes. He supposes they must have, or the Remnant would never have been built in the first place. He just finds it difficult to believe that his forbears had really known how it would feel to float through sea of infinite stars, gazing out your windows until those distant lights became as familiar as friends.  
  
In the past, generations ago now, it would have been possible to know what those ancient humans had thought, but those records are long gone. The people of Remnant are on their own, sailing on a voyage that not even their grandchildren will see the end of.  
  
Qrow's gotten lost in his thoughts (again, he hears Raven say, and swats the voice away). He's missed his exit pipe, descended too low. He grabs a handle set into the side of the aluminum cylinder he's been floating through and uses it to push himself back up. He slides into a connecting tube feet first, telling himself very firmly that the direction his head is pointed is now up. Qrow may have grown up in space, but he has never felt comfortable in zero gravity.  
  
He drifts down the tube, picking up speed as he approaches First Ring and gravity begins to reassert itself. Soon he can float no more, and has to use the rungs bolted to side of the cylinder, dropping past the gaps that lead into other tubes. It's just after the start of third shift, and there aren't too many people moving about right now. At shift change, these tubes are a nightmare, especially as more people move to the inner rings. Qrow has heard talk of restricting some of the tubes to one-way movement, since they aren't wide enough to allow people to pass by each other. It might seem sensible to the bridge crew, but it'll wreak havoc with the schedules of the people who live here. Qrow doubts that there is a truly good solution; the pipes were never intended for human passage, after all.  
  
Qrow wouldn't be passing through them either, except that Clover had messaged him to say he'd found something important. The last time Clover said that, he'd been talking about a new type of algae that they'd spliced together in the hydroponics lab. But Qrow is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt this time.  
  
Not that algae isn't important - although the cramped little school Qrow had attended on Tenth Ring didn't offer the most robust education, they certainly covered the necessity of supplementing life support with ecological systems. But that was enough for Qrow. He doesn't work with Clover in hydroponics; he already knows as much about algae as he cares to.  
  
So he hopes it's not more botany stuff. Clover _had_ sounded different this time, serious enough that Qrow had cut over here as soon as his second shift maintenance work was over. He can't deny that a tiny tendril of worry has settled in his chest. He tells himself again that Clover is fine, annoyed by the irrational fear. Clover is always fine, more than fine. He's always happy; suspiciously well adjusted, if you ask Qrow. He certainly isn't the kind of person Qrow had ever imagined himself dating (is that the word for what they're doing?). After he'd lost his team, Qrow had decided he wasn't going to care about anyone ever again. But then he'd been relocated to Fourth Ring, where space was at a premium and no one bunked alone. At first, Qrow had been exhausted by his roommate's energy. When he'd finally begun to tolerate the other man's presence, he'd credited it to Clover wearing him down. And yet Qrow couldn't deny that Clover's presence had brought a warmth to Qrow's life that he hadn't felt for a long time. He started to look forward to returning to their shared bunk after a long shift. He found himself wanted to tell Clover things he'd never shared with anyone, not even during the intense debriefing after the loss of his team. It was only when he found himself picking up extras of Clover's favourite ration bars that Qrow finally admitted to himself how he felt. That Clover returned his feelings had been an unexpected gift in a life that had taken so much from Qrow. Qrow still isn't sure what they are to each other, but Clover is always telling him to enjoy the moment, so he tries not think about it too much...which is what he's doing right now. His thoughts are a tangle, distracting him from navigating the pipes. This is what the inner rings do to people, he thinks irritably. The lower gravity makes them absent-minded, forgetful. He hasn't missed his exit this time, though he does have to clamber into an adjoining tube to allow a gaggle of children to pass.   
  
In the cramped confines of the tube, Qrow checks his scroll again, but Clover's locator ping hasn't moved. He's a few rooms away from the hydroponics lab where he works second shift. As Qrow looks more closely at the map, he can see that Clover's going to be difficult to reach. Qrow had been planning to go through the tubes to the lab and then join Clover from there, but there's no direct connection between the lab and the room Clover's in. He puzzles over how to get through until at last the children climb past him and he can continue down towards hydroponics. He taps out a message with one hand as he descends.  
  
 _where r u?_  
  
A few moments later, his scroll vibrates against his chest.   
  
_Check the ping :]_  
  
 _i can see ping_ , Qrow replies, _but i cant get there_  
  
Clover's response flashes across his screen right away.  
  
 _Oops! I'll come get you from lab_  
  
Clover's contrite when he meets Qrow outside the lab door. He takes Qrow's hand apparently without thinking twice about it.  
  
"Come with me," he says, his green eyes sparkling in the harsh light of the lab. His smile is infectious; Qrow feels the corner of his mouth tug up in response.  
  
"You gonna tell me where we're going?"  
  
"It's a surprise."   
  
"I don't like surprises," Qrow points out, as Clover tugs him to the back of the lab, past the lichen covered walls and trays of algae samples.   
  
His admission gets him a full blast of Clover at his most sincere.  
  
"I'll tell you if you want," he says, taking Qrow's other hand. "But I think it will be a good surprise. Trust me?"  
  
Qrow does, annoyingly enough. He nods.  
  
Someone has piled some loose crates at the back of the lab - it isn't often the rings need to stop rotation, but having unsecured cargo in a workspace is a serious safety hazard.  
  
Clover must see the anxious pinch Qrow can feel between his brows.  
  
"It was only for a second," he says, hastily moving the crates back to their homes in the nearby shelving. "I just didn't want anyone to find this before I had a chance to show you." His efforts have revealed a dark hole in the wall. The hole was definitely not there the last time Qrow visited the lab, but it is cleanly cut with sharp edges; clearly no accident.  
  
"We're trying to expand the lab," Clover tells Qrow. He's searching for something in one of the shelving units. "They cut through the wall this morning, did the air seal, the whole nine yards. When they found the other side could hold pressure, they said we could go through, and the Doc told me to take a look. You are not going to believe what I found inside."  
  
Pretty much anything Clover could have found would be unbelievable. It has been years since the people of Remnant have been able to reclaim a part of the ship that had been lost in the Conflagration.  
  
Clover finds a suitlight on the shelf and clips it to his collar, passing another to Qrow. The light lets out a faint hiss as Qrow turns it on, glowing yellow orange.  
  
Clover snaps his own light on, and the illumination gives his face a garish look that isn't quite offset by his grin. He takes Qrow's hand again and steps through the hole in the wall.  
  
Their lights don't do much to pierce the darkness beyond, but the space isn't large; maybe half the size of the lab. A door hangs open beside them, and Clover takes them through it. Their are scorch marks painting the floor and licking up the walls, but that first room and the one following it are queerly empty. They step into a hallway, then Clover shoulders his way through a final door and says "Here we are!"  
  
At first glance, it's a room like all the others; Qrow nearly says his much before the symbols on the far wall catch his eye.  
  
He steps forward, reaching out a hand as if they will become more real if he touches them.  
  
 _EVA Suit 1065_ , he reads. And beside that _EVA Suit 1066_ , then _EVA Suit 1067_ and beyond that...  
  
"Airlock?" he asks, stunned.  
  
"It works," Clover says eagerly. "The breach team tested it. And you're always saying how you miss the stars, so I thought we could go out, if you wanted."  
  
Qrow's fingers finally reach the painted words above the EVA suit bays.  
  
"We have to report this," he says faintly. "This is huge."  
  
"The breach team will, first thing tomorrow," Clover replies. "But I convinced them to wait, just for tonight." He reaches past Qrow, takes one of the EVA suits down from it's bay.   
  
"You don't have any training," Qrow says, suddenly dismayed. "Clover, I can't let you go out there without training."  
  
Clover hasn't let go of the suit.  
  
"You know best," he says softly. "But I do trust you to keep me safe."  
  
Qrow looks at the EVA suits, a dozen protests dying on his lips.  
  
"Ok," he says instead. "Ok."  
  
It takes a while for Qrow to get into his suit, but the muscle memory comes back, and suddenly its as if his last EVA was yesterday. Clover is awkward and laughing about it as he tries to wrestle his way into the suit, and Qrow finds himself laughing too. His heart feels light, the way it always seems to in Clover's presence.  
  
When they're finally ready to go, Qrow finds himself hesitating, has to force himself to hit the button to depressurize the airlock. The hiss of atmosphere being vacuumed away is as familiar as breathing, and then the outer door slides open and they are beyond.  
  
The feeling is strange; they are still tethered to ship, still rotating with it. But the sky has opened up around them, and Qrow is bathed in starlight.   
  
He laughs, and tips himself back to take more of it in.   
  
Clover's hand reaches for him, and Qrow reaches back, for all he'll never feel it through the suit. Clover's voice crackles over the suit's inbuilt comm.  
  
"Worth it?"   
  
"Thank you," Qrow says, with the kind of earnestness that would have once made him squirm. "Clover, this is- this is what I was missing."  
  
"I wanted to do something nice," Clover tells him. "It's been a year since you moved in, you know that?"  
  
"A year," he echoes softly.  
  
"And I know being in Fourth Ring isn't what you would have chosen," Clover continues. "But I sure am glad I got to meet you."  
  
There's a melancholy note in his voice, and Qrow tugs on his tether so he can see Clover's face. The other man isn't looking at the stars at all, but back at the airlock door, a tiny black void in the behemoth that is the Remnant.  
  
"You're right," Qrow says seriously. "I wouldn't have chosen it. There's a lot in life I would do differently if I could, and no guarantee it would turn out any better. It was bad luck that got me sent to Fourth Ring, but you more than make up for that."  
  
To his relief, Clover smiles.  
  
"A whole year with you," he says. He swings their joined hands so they're pointing back towards the stars. "Here's to another, Qrow Branwen."  
  
Qrow pulls Clover close, tips his head so their helmets can rest against each other.  
  
"Another," he agrees, and they spend the rest of third shift losing themselves amongst the stars.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This is coming at you pretty hot to be released on the right day. Hopefully will have time to go back and edit :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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